Christmas with Team Dark
by Crimson Roses Turned Black
Summary: After returning from a very long mission, Team Dark heads back to Club Rouge to rest. The next morning becomes a surprise for a certain black and red hedgehog.


_**No one requested anything so I came up with this. Enjoy!**_

Christmas with Team Dark

On a cold snowy winter night, three figures roamed the empty streets on their way back from a long day of work. The largest was a robot, leaving deep imprints of his feet as they walked. His name was E-123 Omega but most just called him Omega. Loyal and fond of explosions, to the two walking slightly in front of him, he was a great friend.

The next trudged through the two foot deep snow with his arms folded across his chest. His ruby red eyes squinting in the brutal snow infested winds. Red streaked quills swaying harshly behind his head. His name is Shadow, an artificially created hedgehog with a tragic past.

The third, and only female, was a bat who's hair matched her surroundings perfectly. Her white fur contrasted against her teammates black and red theme. Blue eyeshadow covered eyelids covered her enchanting sapphire irises. Glossy lips pulled back into a frown as she slowly marched forward. Her name means french for red, the color of passion and fire forever burning, Rouge. If only the fire burned a little warmer.

The three of them combined created a nearly perfect team; Team Dark. All three had finally returned from a two month mission that meant absolutely nothing to any of them but was never the less successful. They were ready to return to their home (Club Rouge) and stay there for as long as they wanted.

In no time, the three caught sight of the pink lights that spelt out the name of their destination. Not wanting to wait any longer, the female bat spread her wings and flew to the door with keys in hand. Her comrades not too far behind, followed her into the usually noisy club.

Automatically lights flickered on as they clumsily waltzed in. The hedgehog waisted no time climbing up the stairs to the second floor, then walking across the casino balcony to another set of stairs that led to Team Dark's house. His metallic teammate closely behind.

The owner of the club stayed behind to fix the place up before calling it a night.

As she walked up the third flight of stairs that separates the kitchen and living spaces from the bedrooms, she could hear the soft hum of Omega's body shutting down and the ever so subtle snore of the Ultimate Lifeform.

She allowed herself to giggle quietly before continuing her trek to her room. When she past the boys' room, the door was open. There she saw Omega in the corner with his eyes dimmed and Shadow sprawled out above the covers of his bed. She smirked before closing the door and _**entering**_ her own room.

The next morning, Shadow awoke to an empty room and the smell of breakfast seeping in through the crack at the bottom of his door. He lazily flipped to lay on his side and noticed the clock read 6:15 _a.m._

It was six in the morning and it smelt like Rouge and already baked a buffet down there. With a groan, he got up and pulled his gloves on underneath his inhibitor rings and slipped on a pair of white socks.

It was freezing today. A quick look out the window showed twice as much snow than last night. Or maybe he was so exhausted he slept a few days. Either way one thing was for sure, he was _still_ tired.

Steady thuds down the stairs meant Shadow was finally awake. Rouge smirked. She wanted to see his face when he saw what she did. She glided across the tile flooring of her kitchen to the hardwood floors of the living room. She leaned her shoulder onto the door frame of the kitchen before finally calling to the hedgehog walking downstairs.

"Morning Shadow." She greeted.

"Morning." He stumbled right past a shocked Rouge to follow the entrancing sent of food.

On the table was a collection of masterfully prepared food. Breakfast still had steam rising from it and there was something in the over, most likely lunch, that just smelled fantastic. Normally the trio of agents ordered food or ate at headquarters, so Rouge making food was unusual indeed.

Forgetting he was ever tired, Shadow sprinted towards the table and dug in. Rouge slowly joined him, still wide-eyed.

Shadow took a break from the amazing food to study his friend. She just satires at him with those sparkling eyes. He could tell she was up later then him and obviously woke up first. She had no make-up on and her hair seemed a little tangled but still as beautiful as ever. Her normal cat suit was not on, instead she wore a fuzzy light pink tank top with purple straps and trim, with matching pink and purple stripped pants and purple slippers with hot pink hearts on the tips.

For some reason, Shadow preferred her like this. She seemed so natural and calm, yet still her own kind of perfect.

He opened his mouth to talk to her but quickly closed it when Omega came in.

"Mission finish downstairs decorations complete."

"Thank you very much Omega. I would have done it myself but I still had food to make and after last time..." She paused to shiver as she remembered what happened last time we let Omega cook. "I don't like you using the oven, no offense hun."

"I am a robot. I do not get offensive like you two."

Both Rouge and Shadow smirked at their robotic comrade. He always found a way to sound superior. Then Shadow replayed his teammates' conversation through his head.

"Decorations?" He asked.

Rouge giggled at his confusion. He, however, didn't see what was so funny. "I'm surprised you didn't notice when you came down."

The hedgehog furrowed his eyebrows in further confusion. The bat only smiled and motioned for him to follow her as she left the kitchen.

When they arrived in the living room, Shadow understood what decorations they were talking about.

Circles of green and bows were placed on doors and above the fire place. Between the circle and said fire place were three large, green and red colored socks that were labeled. One for each of them. Ribbon of crimson red trimmed the edges of many things in the room. Some fixtures that were usually in the room were replaced by deer figures or small humans with pointy ears or an old man with a red suit. To top it all off, there was a pine tree next to the fire place complete with hanging circles and wrapped boxes beneath it.

"I did this last night and most of the club area but I had to have Omega finish up for me." Rouge walked forward and straightened one of the decorations. She stood on a rug with red and green patterns and some jumping deer as she shifted the old man to stand perfectly straight.

"Wh-what is all of this? I have never seen such outrageous designs in my life." Shadow wondered out loud as he spun in an endless circle surveying the whole space.

"What else Shadow? Christmas."

"What?"

If Rouge wasn't shocked before, she certainly was now.

"You don't know what Christmas is?"

Shadow shook his head. They have been in similar situations before with holidays that never happened on ARK, but not having Christmas was unimaginable to Rouge. She smiled warmly at her friend and decided to change his lack of a holiday.

"Well, Shadow, Christmas is a very special holiday. It is time of giving and spreading joy and cheer to others. Presents are only a bonus as the true meaning is to give, not receive. It's the only time of year you will see me being generous. This holiday had a great impact on my life as a child. Seeing complete strangers come together to help one another. People were smiling and laughing, families were reuniting after long periods of time spent apart. It was truly amazing watching the world change for a month leading up to one day. Christmas day. I have never stopped celebrating it and anyone of the regulars at my club will tell you just how different I become."

Her eyes. They held the most sincere emotion Shadow had ever seen in them. The way she was right now, in her pajamas without make-up, the way she was talking about a day of the year. It was then and now she had looked more beautiful than ever before in Shadow's eyes.

Omega hobbled over to the tree as he grabbed some of the bright colored shimmery boxes.

"Can I?" He asked Rouge. She simply nodded with the same genuine smile plastered on her face.

The ex-Eggman robot carefully used his sharp fingers to rip the paper on the box. The boxes were wrapped and all had tags with his name on them. As he was occupied with that, Rouge walked to the tree and grabbed the remaining gifts. She gazed down at them and blushed as she slowly made her way to Shadow.

Sapphire clashed with ruby as their eyes locked. The shorter of the two outstretched her arms to the hedgehog before her. His eyes moved from her's to her hands. He inspected each box and saw his name on all of them.

"You... you got these for me?" He starred straight at the snow white bat in front of him. He matched the sincere feeling she emitted as he whispered in the most gentle voice he had ever used. "Thank you."

The crimson streaked hedgehog gingerly took the gifts from her and sat on the couch. The muscular bat wandered back to the kitchen to clean the dishes and continue preparing the next meal.

Omega had already finished unwrapping his gifts as he sat surrounded by torn wrapping paper messing with his presents. One was an upgrade to his systems that would have to be installed later. Another was a set of two monster trucks that were controlled by the controller currently in Omega's metal claws. The last one contained information on all Eggman's bases that he hadn't been to yet.

Shadow smirked at Omega's childlike behavior. It was funny seeing a robot capable of taking down an army of robots single handed, making giggle-like noises with his voice box.

Shadow starred at his perfectly concealed gifts in his lap. Timidly, he picked one up. The biggest of the three, wrapped in blue paper with white snowflakes. He opened it and saw a new pair of shoes. Not just any shoes, these were the exact same type as the ones he wore everyday. The we're mainly black with yellow accents and his name written in red letters.

He immediately slipped them on his feet; a perfect fit.

Keeping them on, he reached for the second present. This one was smaller and wrapped in some more of those deer, however one had a red nose. He hungrily opened it wanting to see what this one had in-store for him. Once the paper was torn off, he open a cream-colored box. Inside it were two shotguns. They looked normal but when he looked closer, he noticed some modifications. Not only were there red accents but the gun itself seemed updated. He found a note that read: _these two guns have been modified to shoot further and carry bigger ammunition. Some included. They also have the ability to channel chaos energy from the user to the weapon. Hope you like them ~Rouge._

Sure enough, there was ammunition in the box. After spinning the guns on his fingers and loading them up on ammo, Shadow directed his attention to the last box.

It was smaller than the other two and wrapped in a striking blood red color. Written on the front in spectacular handwriting was a message. _Just in case you forget us._ His curiosity getting the best of him, he tore the paper to pieces leaving him with the best of the three gifts.

In his hands was a photo frame. In said frame was a picture of Rouge, Omega and himself. Omega was sitting against a tree with Rouge sitting on his shoulder with her legs crossed. I was fast asleep in Omega's lap with a straight face. In the corner, in red curly letters, was the words 'Team Dark'. It was absolutely the best thing I was ever given. When the picture was taken I don't know, but Rouge does. She was the only one looking directly at the camera.

Little did he know, the gift-giver was watching him. Her weight supported by the door frame, hee wings relaxed and hanging loosely behind her, her arms comfortably folded across her chest, tail swaying carelessly, eyelids lowered and a warm smile upon her face.

When Shadow felt her gaze, he turned to face her. He was relaxed, comfortable and happy. Things he thought he could never be again. Realization hit when he thought of something. His ears flattened to his head before he spoke.

"See, now I feel bad." His eyes shifted to the bottom of the tree where no presents remained. "I didn't get you anything."

The huntress smiled her genuine smile, "Shadow," she walked towards him. There conversation catching Omega's attention. "You and Omega have given me more than I could ever ask for. I'm not alone anymore."

She sat next to her hedgehog teammate and embraced him. He was reluctant at first, but he slowly enclosed his arms around her. Omega came up behind the couch and grasped both of them in his large metal arms. Both of them laughing the whole time.

"I have been given the chance to meet non-robots who are not so bad." He stated in his monotone voice.

The two mobians managed to get out from the strong robot's grip. Rouge and Omega turned their heads towards Shadow with anticipation. He sighed realising what they were expecting.

"And I get to be with the only two beings that aren't annoying as hell."

As the day carried on, the team of three laughed and told made up stories and stories about their separate adventures, sometimes it was hard to tell the difference. The snow kept falling down as they enjoyed their first day back from their long mission for G.U.N. and ate the incredible food Rouge had prepared. They were undisturbed the whole day for the first time ever, and they enjoyed it.

 _ **Merry Christmas! Goodness that was long. They were very out of character but I think it turned out okay. Next chapter for World at War will be posted in 2016. Sorry it is taking so long but it will be up soon I promise. In the meantime, merry Christmas and a happy New Year!**_


End file.
